GROWING AND INCREASING
2 Thessalonians 1:2-3 ESV
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
Paul is writing his second letter to the church of the Thessalonians. And he is thankful to God for their faith and love. And not just that they have faith and love, but that their faith is growing and their love increasing.
We can pick up a couple of important insights from Paul's words. The first is that Paul placed a high level of importance on the faith and love of the people. Paul was more focused on their faith and love than on any other attributes. He did not write something along the lines of 'Hey, I hear that you are blessed, and everything is going great in your life.' Of course, there is nothing wrong with that, but Paul knew what was most important.
The environment in which these early churches were formed was by no means pleasant. Converts to Christianity were persecuted by both the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews resented people leaving Judaism for a religion that was open to the Gentiles. The Gentiles were hostile towards Christians who no longer worshipped their false gods. In the pagan mind, these breakaway Christians put their cities in jeopardy because they no longer were pleasing to the false gods and goddesses of the area. It was not uncommon for the Christians to be blamed if anything went wrong in these regions. Because of that environment, Paul was more concerned with how the faith of the new believers was coming along. He knew it would require faith to push past the persecution.
It does not appear that the early church was blessings based. By that, I mean they were not sold the idea that coming to Christ was all about the blessings. What they were presented is that coming to Christ would be the greatest thing that ever happened to them, but it would not be readily welcomed and accepted by culture. It does not require nearly as much faith to stay connected to the Lord when everything is smooth and easy. But when there are persecutions and afflictions, it takes faith to stay steady.
Paul was blessed that, in the middle of difficult times, the faith of the believers in Thessalonica was growing abundantly, and their love for one another was increasing. This tells us faith and love are not fixed qualities. Faith and love can grow and increase. We can see how important love for one another would be in this setting. When problems are coming from the outside, the church needs to be solid on the inside. The love for one another provided a safe haven for the believers.
APPLICATION
Faith and love can grow and increase in our lives. Like muscles in the physical body, our faith and love grow when they are fed and exercised. Feeding on God's Word is a way to increase your faith and love. Then, acting on what we believe increases strength. Feeding and exercise work in the physical realm and in the spiritual realm. The great news is that wherever we are now in our faith and love, we can grow and increase.
PRAYER
Thank You, Lord, that I can grow in my faith and increase in my love. I know that is pleasing to You, helpful to me, and a blessing to those I am around.